Hotels near St. Mary's Catholic Church, Gatlinburg

I really wanted to love this place. The location is perfect to quickly get to the attractions in Gatlinburg without fighting traffic and the views are incredible. The food from vista grille is surprisingly delicious for hotel food and the welcome cookie was so good. The front desk staff and restaurant staff are the best. So polite and friendly each and every time. But this place is busy. It is a convention center and there was an event every day during our stay. There is not ample parking to accommodate a packed hotel during peak season and daily events. Allowing guests to park in the fire lane seems like a major safety issue. The rooms are a decent size however, the beds are not great unless you like sleeping on a worn out extra firm mattress. The rooms also need a deep cleaning. I understand that there is a quick turnover between guests but these rooms haven’t had a good cleaning in years. There was hair left behind from a previous guest in the bathroom and years of dust behind the couch. For almost $300/night, I expected more.

So first off let me say that this hotel is still an ok place to stay. I would however also say that by charging 300+ a night for a room you have certain expectations, and those were not met this trip. From the outside, the hotel was lovely as always. The lobby seemed clean but had a few minor issues, and the furniture seemed like it could use a refresh. So my initial impression was favorable. We got to the room and at first glance, things seemed ok, but when you started looking around that's when the issues started. First, the chair had a fabric piping that was half torn off. The carpet seemed to be really worn in spots and could have used a cleaning. The shower had a patch job that looked like someone with no experience slapped calk around the edge of the shower and the drain; it was seriously an eyesore. Then when my daughter went to take a bath she told us it looked like something black was on the walls. Sure enough, there was something black on the wall. I am no mold expert, but it appeared to be black mold although I have no way of confirming that. Then we went to look at the beds before we got in and one bed had a blood spot on the mattress cover that lined up perfectly with the mattress itself so I know that no one even attempted to clean it; all they did was slap a clean fitted sheet on the bed. The mattresses on the beds are so bad that my wife and I woke up with sore backs every morning; I never used to have a problem with their beds in the past so I can only assume that the mattresses are in need of replacing. Also on the balcony when the HVAC unit is running it sounds like you are sitting next to a jet engine. I have stayed at this hotel at least 5 times in the past and do not remember the HVAC being so loud on the balcony. Also, they claim to be short-staffed on housekeeping so they only offer room cleanings once every 3 days during your stay. That means if you need towels, toilet paper, or the trash taken out you have to call them which is not great for what you are paying for this room; I can see every other day, but seriously every 3 days is ridiculous! The hot tub had tiles missing and water was leaking through the opening of the backer board which I cannot imagine is good for the hot tub. Also on all 4 nights of our stay, it looked like the hot tub got cleaned 1 time. When you are charging 300-500 a night for a ”standard room” depending on the time of year you have expectations that things will be taken care of, and that your room will be clean and well-kept. I used to pay 150-200 a night for this hotel and the hotel was immaculate, so clearly someone is taking the money and not reinvesting in the property. I stay here to escape the bad experiences that I've had at other Gatlinburg hotels, and that used to work until this trip. I really hope they reinvest in this property and gut all the rooms to do a complete makeover because otherwise there is no way this hotel is worth the price they are charging current

I came to visit the Great Smoky Mountains and found this hotel from Ctrip.com. It is very cost-effective and has a good geographical environment. It is close to the main street of Gatlinburg town and is convenient for travel. The receptionist is an Indian, warm and kind, responsive to all requests, and the breakfast is rich.

Hotel price is good! It is relatively close to Davidson College, 5-10 minutes by car. You need to talk to the front desk about cleaning the room. There is a grocery store next to the hotel, and there is also a Vietnamese rice noodle shop nearby.

Pleasant staff and fairly quick check in and out. The room was nothing like I expected , my fault. I looked at so many hotels I didn't pay attention to the room set up which we hated. The bed closest to the balcony doesn't get much of the air conditioning while those by the front door freeze. The water pressure is A LOT and the force splashes water everywhere from the sink that's in the middle of the room. The carpeted floor has dips and groves in the flooring underneath which is odd. The shower sprays SO HARD that even while in the shower and the curtain closed the water sprayed all over the door and floor. Barely any room in the bathroom to turn around in. Definitely not a room to share with others when you need to privately change clothes unless you want to stand in the tub. Exhaust fan in bathroom- really is pointless. Doesn't do squat. And the fear of the toilet over flowing with every flush was stressful. SO MUCH WATER per flush. WOW. ALSO if you're there for just a couple days and don't need housekeeping they places notice on your door saying they will inspect your room if housekeeping can't come in after 24 hours. Never experienced that before. We didn't use the safe so no opinion on that. We enjoyed the balcony and watching the ducks and geese. Went floating a little bit, WEAR swim shoes and be careful it's super slippery. Go down the little rapid forward facing or there's a risk you'll flip. We went down them twice and it was an exhausting activity. The curtains need replacing. One by the balcony doesn't block out the bright morning sun and the one by the door had small holes in it, it also needed to be bigger to properly cover the window. Breakfast: eggs were cooked ok with zero seasoning,sausage was good and had a little Peppery heat to it, potatoes were ok. Some were not done while others were soft. Biscuits - OH LORD- hard as a rock on the outside and really doughy in the center (HOW DOES ONE MANAGE THAT)?) gravy was thin and MEH. Of our 2 days we only got breakfast once so no idea if there are different items on other days. I think they had pancakes, I did see watery looking grits and oatmeal. But didn't look to see what else they had. elevator #1 always smelled amazing. Don't know what they put in there, but was really clean and smelled good. Housekeeping ladies were so nice and helpful even though there was a language barrier. The parking is so weird. Not full spaces and the lines were so weirdly places between the columns. My oversized conversion van had to take up an entire section between columns as I have a wheelchair lift on the right side and couldn't fit next to another car. We parked on very bottom for better parking. There are some brave pigeons outside if you're patient. Overall the place is pretty decent for the price and very clean. There are just some areas needing improvement.

We were pleasantly surprised as to the location of your hotel. The view was breathtaking! Our room was very comfortable. The recliner was in a declining condition but it served a purpose as my husband has to sleep in a recliner. The pool was very inviting and the fireworks on our last night there were so exciting.

I once saw a picture of their sign that said it wasn't the newest but it is the cleanest. No business gimmick, it was very clean and very enjoyable to stay in.